Evolving protected area governance in East Africa high mountains: implications for equitable conservation and development policy

The high mountains of East Africa are important landscapes for conservation and development. They are home to indigenous people and venue for multiple livelihood practices of large populations of local people, constitute globally unique biodiversity, contain the only glaciers on the continent and are important for regional and national provision of multiple ecosystem services. The high mountains have for long been locations for complex policy interactions between conservation and development objectives where protected areas (PAs) have been central policy arenas. Starting under colonial rule this has since unfolded in all the high mountains through processes driven by multiple interests. Currently, the high mountains contain a large PA estate, central for understanding human-environment interactions. The objective of this study is to understand how PA governance has evolved and contributed to conservation and development processes and outcomes in East Africa high mountains. We set analytical scope on three mountain PA in Uganda and employ historical-institutional perspective and a political economy lens to analyse PA governance, its drivers, and distributional effects of its outcomes in a comparative perspective. This paper focuses on analysing political and institutional factors explaining dynamics and trajectories of change. The review analysis is based on multiple data sources. The study illustrates that the mountain PAs have followed similar evolutionary trajectories. The same critical junctures have redefined their otherwise path dependent evolution, driven by external actors, the colonial powers in 1930s and then conservation and development partners in 1990s. The findings depict critical perspectives on the current conservation efforts, not promising in the context of new GBF global targets. This relates to limited governance quality and inadequate recognition and respect for the rights of local people. The political economy outcomes are unequal towards local people, hence there is a need to reconsider the distributional effects of conservation. We call for governance reform towards more socially inclusive approaches to conservation addressing the social justice and equity issues that currently shape and constrain the PA relations. There is a need for more distinct policy direction and development of more capable institutions to deliver the needed reforms. There is much to learn from the past to build for the future in much-needed high mountain PA governance reforms.